Portable gold-washer



(No Model.)

- F. 'KAHN PORTABLE GOLD WASHER.

No. 594,255. Patented Nov. 23, 1897.

A T'OH/VEYS.

UNTTED STATES Trice..

PATENT PORTABLE coLo-wnsi-trr-i.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Iatent No. 594,255, dated November 23, 1897. Application filed April l5, 1897. Serial No. 632,215. (No model.)

T0 all when?, t may concern:

Beit known that I, FELIX KAHN, of Laredo, in the county of Webb and State of Texas, have invented a new and Improved Portable Gold-Washer, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object'of my invention to provide an im proved substitute for the crude forms of portable gold-washing apparatus frequently employed, more especially such as are adapted for rotary or oscillatory motion by hand and from which earth, gravel, stones, or other material of less specific gravity than gold or gold ore are thrown or washed out by the effect of centrifugal action and thus separated from the gold, which remains in the bottom of the washer.

I employ two rotatable basins of conical or hemispherical form, which are mounted one above the other on a rotary spindle or shaft held in suitable bearings in a small tank or receptacle. Means are provided for breaking up clods and stirring the pulverized ore as the basinsrotate, and also for discharging the liquid contents of the tank as occasion requires. The basins, spindle, and connected parts are adapted to be easily removed from the water-tank in which they are contained when in use. Mercury may be placed in the basins to amalgamate the free gold.

The invention is applicable not only for separating foreign matter from free gold, but also pulverized ores of different densities. It is particularly adapted for use by prospectors and in laboratory Work.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of my improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the upper basin or cup. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section of a side portion of such basin.

The sheet-metal tank or receptacle 1 is an oblong cylinder open at the top. Within it are arranged the two hemispherical basins or enlarged cups 2 3, which are arranged one above the other on a spindle or shaft 4, set vertically in the center of tank 1. The pointed lower end of said spindle is stepped in a bearing 5 and the upper end is journaled in a transverse bar 6, whose ends are fitted detachably between ears or studs 7, projectingver- It will be noted that the upper basin or cup 2 is smaller-1L e., has less diameter-than the lower one, 3, so that water and solid matters thrown out of it may fall into the lowerone.

As shown in Fig. 2, I provide each basin with a device ll for rocking and stirring the contents of the same, as well as breaking up compacted masses of sand, mud, or other soil that may' be thrown into the basin. The rake 11 is formed of a series of stout wires or small rods depending from a transverse bar 12 and curved to conform to the general contour of the basins. The ends of the rake-supporting bars 1,2 are held detachably in socket 13, attached to opposite sides of the tank 1.

The upper basin 2 is provided with an escape or discharge pipe 14, whose enlarged or funnel-shaped mouth proper, 14', is on the inner side of the basin near the top of the same, and its discharge end (see Fig. 4) located beneath the bottom of the basin contiguous to spindle 4. The mouth 14 of said pipe eX- tends horizontally and parallel to the side of the basin from an opening 15 (see Fig. 5) in the side of the latter. The pipe proper, 14, communicates with said opening 15 and eX- tends past the same and is provided with a second mouth 1G, exterior to the basin 2, for the purpose of admitting water, which, as the basin 2 rotates, becomes a current of considerable force.

Gold-bearing sands or quartz to be treated in this apparatus should be finely crushed or pulverized and sifted thoroughly in order to render the product as uniform as practicable. The product is deposited in the upper basin 2 and the tank nearly filled with water. Then, J[he basins being rotated about sixty revolutions a minute, the lighter particles of the pulverized mass are carried upward and outward by centrifugal action and enter the mouth 14 of pipe 14 and pass down into the larger lower IOO basin 3, wherein they are again subjected to centrifugal action, with the result that the lightest particles are thrown out over the edge of the basin. This operation is materially aided by the water-current entering the exterior mouth 16 of pipe I4, the action being substantially such as takes place in a wellknown form of injector. Thus free gold and the particles of orebearing sand or quartz are left in the basins, while the lighter foreign matter is deposited in the tank l.

In treating some gold ores mercury is deposited in the lower basin 3, (see Fig. 2,) and in such case the basins are preferably revolved from seventy-five to eighty times a minute. To remove the free gold and amalgamated mercury from the basins, I employ a suitable siphon, (not shown;) but any other suitable means may be availed of for the purpose.

As shown in Fig. l, the tank or reservoir l is provided near its bottom with a water-dis charge tube 17, preferably made of galvanized sheet-iron and having a flexible section 17. Then not in use, this tube 17 is held vertically alongside the tank, as shown, by means of a detachable chain 1S. It is obvious it must in such case extend nearly to the top of the tank in order to prevent premature eseape of the contents of the latter. lVhen the tube is lowered, the liquid contents of the tank discharge through it by gravity, leaving a semisolid earthy or mineral sediment which may be readily removed, and, if necessary, treated anew to obtain any gold held therein.

The spindle or shaft l is made in three seetions, (sec Fig. 2,) which are screwed together to facilitate detachment and packing of the apparatus in small space.

The basins 2 3 are preferably struck up out of a single sheet of polished copper, and their respective proportions are twenty-four centimeters in depth by fifty-two in diameter to twenty-seven in depth and ftyeight in diameter. The proportions of the tank or reservoir are one hundred and fifteen centimeters in height to eighty-five centimeters in diameter; but of course such proportions are merely preferable, not essential.

l. The rotatable basin having a dischargepipe which opens on the inner side and near the top of the same, and water-passage ai ranged exterorly and communicating with such pipe, for aiding the centrifugal outflow of material, by induction, as shown and described.

2. In a port-able goldwasher, the combination, with the tank and contained basins, of the rakes adapted to work in the latter, trans verse bars supported removably on the sides of the tank and carrying said rakes, and a rotatable spindle connected with the bars and carrying the aforesaid basins, as shown and described,wl1ereby the basins, rakes,bars,and spindle form a connected apparatus which is adapted to be readily inserted in or removed from the tank, as specified.

FELIX KANN.

lVitnesses: l

JOHN B. BAKER, ARTHUR SALoMoNv. 

